Alessandro Grandi
is one of the Italian composers of
the early 17th century who is almost
completely overshadowed by Claudio
Monteverdi. There are not many recordings
of his works available. This is difficult
to understand as Grandi's music is
of excellent quality and shows the
features of so much of the sacred
music of the time: a combination of
'prima prattica' and 'seconda prattica'
and a very strong attention to the
text and its 'affetti'. The first
time I heard his music was on an old
record by the Academia Monteverdiana,
directed by Denis Stevens. The interpretation
wasn't brilliant, not even by the
standards of that time (1976), but
good enough to make a lasting impression.
Since then I have always been on the
lookout for recordings of his works.
I am happy that I had the opportunity
to listen to this disc, but also very
disappointed in the interpretation.
More about that later.

First something about
Grandi. It is not quite certain where
he was born, probably in Ferrara,
where he also worked during the first
stage of his career. In 1617 he was
appointed as a singer at St Mark's
in Venice, when Monteverdi was choirmaster
there. Grandi became Monteverdi's
deputy in 1620. In 1627 he moved to
Bergamo, where he became maestro di
cappella. He died there of the plague
in 1630.

Grandi's first collection
of music was published in 1610. Early
in his career he was influenced by
the music of Giovanni Gabrieli and
Giovanni Croce; it wasn't until the
early 1620s that he adopted the monodic
style. And it was only in Bergamo
that he composed large-scale works.
Before that he mostly composed smaller-scale
works for voices and bc. The collection
of motets for five voices recorded
by Musica Secreta dates from 1614,
when he still worked in Ferrara. The
volume was edited by the Ferrarese
singer Placido Marcelli and dedicated
to Margherita Gonzaga d'Este, widow
of Alfonso II d'Este. At the court
of the Estes three famous female singers
were active, known as the 'Concerto
delle Donne'. When her husband died,
Margherita returned to her birthplace
Mantua, where she founded and entered
a convent. But she never took the
vows of profession, and tried to keep
her household as much as possible.
As the singing of polyphony wasn't
allowed in convents she asked the
Pope for dispensation, which was granted.

It is possible the
motets of this third book were performed
for Margherita, but she won't have
heard them as they were written by
Grandi. In a women's convent no men
were allowed to perform, but Grandi
had scored his motets for mostly soprano,
alto, two tenors and bass. For a performance
in a women's convent the lowest parts
had to be transposed upwards, usually
an octave, or they could be played
instrumentally. It is reasonable to
assume this was a normal practice.
Some convents performed music written
by nuns, but they certainly also had
to turn to music written for 'normal'
practice. And even if composers had
performances by women's voices only
in mind, they usually scored their
compositions for conventional forces,
as Vivaldi did in the early 18th century.
His Psalm settings have solo parts
for soprano and alto, whereas the
tutti are for the usual four voices.
This was just a matter of supply and
demand: music for women's voices alone
just didn't sell.

In this performance
the former of the practices described
above has been applied: the lower
voices are transposed upwards. In
some cases the lowest voice isn't
performed at all. I find that very
odd: you just can't completely omit
a part from a composition, in particular
as an instrumental performance had
been perfectly possible and in line
with the practice of the time.

Musica Secreta is
an ensemble whose focus is on music
by female composers of the 17th century.
It isn't the only ensemble of this
kind: the Italian ensemble Capella
Artemisia, directed by Candace Smith,
has produced several discs with music
by women, in particular by nuns. Most
of them have been released on the
Italian label Tactus. Here Musica
Secreta widens its horizon by bringing
music written for conventional forces
in performances that could have taken
place in women's convents. It is an
interesting angle from which to view
music of the early 17th century in
Italy, and is perfectly legitimate.
It is therefore even more disappointing
that the interpretation is far from
ideal.

Don't get me wrong:
Musica Secreta is a very fine ensemble,
and the five singers on this disc
- Deborah Roberts, Tessa Bonner, Katharine
Hawnt (soprano), Catherine King (mezzo)
and Caroline Trevor (contralto) -
have very nice voices which blend
excellently. The problem is that the
singing is rather bland. As the programme
notes in the booklet state Grandi's
motets are a mixture of 'prima prattica'
and 'seconda prattica'. The latter
aspect is reflected not only by the
use of the basso continuo, but also
by elements like contrast, text expression
and ornamentation. In all these aspects
this recording falls short of what
one may expect to hear in music of
this period. The text expression is
limited as is the addition of ornamentation,
and there are hardly any dynamic shades.
A very important vocal technique at
this time was the 'messa di voce',
the swelling and abating of the voice
on a single note. It was especially
used for very emotional passages,
and in the motets recorded here a
word like "o" (O dulcis, o mater pietatis,
o amor) almost begs for the use of
it, but it is absent here. Giulio
Caccini (Le nuove musiche, 1601) calls
this technique "the foundation of
Passion". It is this passion which
is lacking. It is really beyond me
how Marian motets can be performed
with so little emotion. After all,
we are in the middle of the Counter-Reformation
here, and the veneration of Mary was
at the very heart of this movement.
I also note very little involvement
in the penitential motets, and the
exaltation which characterises early
baroque settings of the 'Litaniae
Beatae Mariae Virginis' isn't delivered
in this performance either.

As the recording
of Grandi's motets of 1614 only would
make the playing time of this disc
rather short, six 'bonus tracks' are
offered. These are pieces from the
ensemble's programme 'Fallen'. "Fallen
depicts the anguished and erotic dream
of a young 17th-century girl on the
eve of her forced enclosure within
the convent." As I haven't seen or
heard this programme, in which the
ensemble cooperated with a playwright
and a filmmaker, it is difficult to
assess the function of these pieces
within that programme. The performances
of the works by Josquin and the plainchant
are stylistically somewhat better
than Grandi, but here the ensemble
sounds a bit stressed now and then,
probably as a result of the upward
transposition. The compositions by
De Wert and Agostini fare little better
than Grandi, though.

The booklet contains
informative programme notes and all
the lyrics with an English translation.
As one may assume these are meant
to be read, why are they printed on
a background which makes that so difficult?

To sum up: a splendid
idea to bring the music of Grandi
to our attention, but in this performance
the qualities of his music are severely
under-exposed. Grandi definitely deserves
a second chance.

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